


Hot Chocolate & Missing Jigsaw Pieces

by Phelpshobbit, StaircaseScorpius



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Art, Book: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Collaboration, Digital Art, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Harry Potter Next Generation, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Hot Chocolate, Jigsaw Puzzles, M/M, Marolley, POV Albus Severus Potter, Post-Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22740826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phelpshobbit/pseuds/Phelpshobbit, https://archiveofourown.org/users/StaircaseScorpius/pseuds/StaircaseScorpius
Summary: It had been Scorpius's idea, spending their first weekend away as a couple in a little muggle log cabin, tucked away from the world in the forest. Albus hadn’t been sure, but he couldn’t say no to Scorpius when he batted his eyelashes and said that all he really wanted was somewhere they could spend two whole days doing nothing but walking in the snow and reading together and doing jigsaw puzzles.-A speed challenge Marolley collaboration - fic by StaircaseScorpius / trolleybitch, art by Marisdrawings / phelpshobbit!
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 81





	Hot Chocolate & Missing Jigsaw Pieces

‘There,’ Albus looped the thick scarf around Scorpius’s neck, ‘Better?’

Scorpius shivered a little. ‘Better. Thank you.’ 

Albus smiled in spite of himself. Scorpius looked a bit like he’d picked out an outfit in the dark - mismatched pyjamas, woolly socks, a fluffy blanket around his shoulders, and now Albus’s heavy scarf wrapped twice around his neck. They’d only been in the cabin for a few hours and the heat from the fire hadn’t fully warmed the place yet. Albus had never minded the cold as much as Scorpius, and he was quite comfortable in his pyjamas on the squishy old sofa in the corner of the room. 

‘Will you stop whining now?’ he asked, nudging Scorpius playfully with one elbow. 

‘Promise.’ Scorpius grinned. His cheeks were pink and his eyes reflected the dancing light of the fire, and Albus thought to himself that frankly, Scorpius had absolutely no right to be that cute. 

‘Good,’ Albus said. He turned to the table, where a battered old box sat expectantly. ‘Are we doing this, then?’

Scorpius nodded, and sat forward enthusiastically. It had been his idea, spending their first weekend away as a couple in a little muggle log cabin, tucked away from the world in the forest. Albus hadn’t been sure, but he couldn’t say no to Scorpius when he batted his eyelashes and said that all he really wanted was somewhere they could spend two whole days doing nothing but walking in the snow and reading together and doing jigsaw puzzles. 

Between them, they emptied the box and started to sort through the jigsaw pieces. Albus propped the box up on one corner of the low table in front of the sofa so they could get a good look at the design - a landscape painting of sweeping green fields and a shimmering lake - and Scorpius began to search in earnest for the corner pieces. His blanket was slipping off his shoulders as he reached across the table, Albus noticed, but now he was distracted he suddenly didn’t seem so bothered by the cold. They worked methodically, checking each piece for straight edges and then beginning to assemble them, lapsing into a comfortable silence which lasted for perhaps ten or fifteen minutes until Scorpius started humming to himself. 

Albus paused and leaned back a little, looking across at Scorpius. His hair, in need of a trim, was falling across his eyes as he focused on the puzzle, and he absent-mindedly pushed it away from his face as he bobbed slightly from side-to-side, in time to the tune he was humming. It took a full minute and a half - not that Albus was counting - for Scorpius to realise that Albus had stopped working on the jigsaw and was watching him. He flushed red and dropped the handful of pieces he was holding when he realised, turning to Albus with a sheepish expression.

‘I was humming, wasn’t I?’ 

Albus tried not to laugh. ‘Little bit, yeah.’ 

‘Sorry.’ Scorpius pulled his scarf up over his mouth and nose. ‘There,’ he said, his voice muffled, ‘This will help.’

Albus couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter at that, and he leaned forward to pull down the scarf and gently press a kiss to Scorpius’s cheek instead. ‘Or,’ he said as he pulled back, ‘We could put some music on?’

‘Or that,’ Scorpius said with a shrug, ‘But I’ll probably end up singing along to that too.’ 

‘Oh, I’m counting on it,’ Albus replied, giving Scorpius’s shoulder a quick squeeze as he stood up and crossed to the old muggle CD player in the corner by the bookshelves. It was lucky that his Grandpa Arthur had owned a similar one, otherwise they’d have had no chance getting a modern stereo working, he thought. Muggle technology was so _weird_ . He managed to plug the machine into the socket and insert a disc from a case emblazoned with the words _Now That’s What I Call… Power Ballads_ , and after a few odd scratchy sounds, it started to play music from its tinny speakers. 

Neither of them recognised many of the songs, but they hummed along out of time as they slowly assembled more and more of the jigsaw, Scorpius adding high-pitched harmonies and making them both dissolve into giggles on more than one occasion. The CD ran out after a couple of hours, and the room was dim even with all the lamps turned on, as the fire started to die in the hearth. The sweeping green fields were in place, and the shimmering lake had almost taken shape, with only a few more pieces left to slot into place. 

‘It’s late,’ Albus said through a yawn. He flopped back on the sofa and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. ‘Are we going to bed after this? I’m sleepy.’ 

Scorpius nodded, but didn’t turn his attention away from the jigsaw. ‘Yeah, but can we have hot chocolate first?’

‘Ooh, good idea.’ Albus wiggled his toes in his woolly socks, nudging Scorpius’s knee. ‘Do you want me to make it while you finish this?’ 

‘Mmm,’ Scorpius nodded again, and Albus smirked. He loved the way Scorpius got in his zone when he was close to solving a puzzle - you could tell him just about anything and he would always react with an absent-minded ‘mmm’.

Albus yawned once more and then got up to head for the cramped little kitchen across the hall of the cabin. They’d brought far more cocoa than they needed for two of them for a single weekend, he realised as he scooped spoonfuls of the powder into mugs and pulled a pan from the cupboard to start heating the milk. He continued to hum to himself while the liquid warmed, some tune from the CD that he couldn’t remember the name of. He’d read the labels of everything in the food cupboard twice by the time it was finally hot enough to be poured into the mugs, and he silently bet himself that Scorpius would have finished the puzzle minutes ago and would be snoozing on the sofa by now. 

Instead, he walked into the living room to find a scene of complete disarray. Scorpius was throwing cushions across the room with an expression of unbridled frustration, having abandoned his blanket over one of the lamps in the corner. As Albus watched from the doorway, Scorpius stomped back and forth in front of the table, searching wildly for something and crossing and uncrossing his arms impatiently. 

‘Er… are you alright?’ Albus asked tentatively.

Scorpius turned to face him. ‘There is a piece,’ he said with a huff, ‘ _Missing_.’

Albus bit his lip to stop himself from giggling. ‘Oh.’ 

‘It’s gone. It’s completely gone.’ 

‘Oh dear.’ Albus held one of the hot chocolates forward to Scorpius as some kind of peace offering. ‘Sorry?’ 

‘Just one! Look.’ Scorpius turned and flung one arm out to indicate the empty spot in the jigsaw, right in the middle of the lake. 

‘Well, we can just leave it, can’t we?’ Albus took a step forward, still holding the mug out at arm’s length. 

Scorpius sighed. ‘But then it won’t be _finished_.’ He sounded utterly miserable. 

‘It’s only a jigsaw, Scorp. Can you please take this? My arm is starting to hurt.’

Scorpius finally registered the mug in front of him. ‘Sorry,’ he said, taking it from Albus and pouting. 

‘Do you not want it anymore?’ Albus asked, raising an eyebrow at Scorpius. 

‘No, I do,’ Scorpius said, holding the mug with two hands carefully as he gave up searching for the lost piece and sat back down on the sofa. ‘But now it will just taste of _defeat_.’

Albus snorted. ‘Good job you’re not being melodramatic about it,’ he said, and Scorpius poked his tongue out in mock offence. 

‘Thank you, though,’ Scorpius said, a little calmer, indicating the hot chocolate. He raised the mug to his lips to take a sip, then almost immediately jerked it away again. ‘Ah! Hot! Too hot.’ He waved a hand in front of his mouth frantically. 

‘Ah, oops, sorry,’ Albus said, ‘Maybe I’ll leave mine for a minute.’ He stepped around the sofa to reach for one of the coasters on the shelf behind. As he leaned across, he caught sight of something small and blue on the floor. ‘Er, Scorpius?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Is this-’ Albus ducked down behind the sofa, and picked up the small blue something, ‘-your missing piece?’

‘What?’ Scorpius whipped around and laser-focused on the piece in Albus’s hand. His expression cycled through about eight emotions in half a second and eventually settled somewhere between frustration and joy. ‘Oh my god, yes. Where _was_ it?’

‘Down there,’ Albus said, gesturing to the floor and wiggling the jigsaw piece forward over Scorpius’s shoulder. ‘Here. Now you don’t have to leave it unfinished.’

Scorpius turned to look up at Albus leaning over the sofa. ‘What would I do without you?’ he said, blinking his big eyes slowly.

Albus felt himself blushing, just slightly. ‘You’re being ridiculous,’ he said, but he leaned in a little closer. 

‘No I’m not,’ Scorpius said, the corner of his mouth twitching. ‘It’s romantic. Look-’ he took hold of the jigsaw piece Albus was still holding out, ‘-you’ve completed the jigsaw, just like you complete me.’ 

‘That’s revolting,’ Albus said through a laugh, ‘I knew we shouldn’t have listened to those power ballads.’ 

Scorpius grinned up at him, and Albus rolled his eyes, still laughing as their lips met. The soft crackle of the fire was the only sound and the scent of chocolate seemed to surround them as they kissed. Albus let his thoughts drift away one by one, until the only thing in his mind was that perhaps he should let Scorpius come up with all the holiday plans from now on, since spending two whole days by themselves in a cosy log cabin in the woods was starting to look like a very good idea after all. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! This was the result of a speed collab challenge and based on a prompt from @amgreenberg on Twitter - thanks Andrew!
> 
> We love reading all your comments, or you can find us on:
> 
> 💜 Mari  
> tumblr: marisdrawings  
> twitter: smolbus
> 
> 💜 Rosie  
> twitter/tumblr: trolleybitch


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